Paper-gripper



E. L. MEGILL.

PAPER GRIPPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31. 1919. RENEWED FEB. a, 1921.

1,388,964. Patented Aug; 30, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD I. MEGILL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PAPER- GRIPPER.

Application filed March 31, 1919, Serial No. 286, 1'76. Renewed February 8, 1921.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD Ii. hilnernn, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper'Grippers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in what are known as paper grippers such as are used on job printing presses,of the general type shown in my I atentNo. 1,055,4t12. These gripper fingers are usually provided with attachments, adjustably mounted along the length of the gripper finger, and including a grip-per plate, which makes contact with the paper, and a squeezer spring; during the printing operation the furniture in the chase will come into contact with the squeezer spring immediately prior to the impression, and will compress the spring while the impression is being made, thus causing the gripper plate to engage the paper. As the furniture moves away from the platen the gripping plate continues to hold the paper against the platen until the spring is completely disengaged from the furniture. Thus disturbance of the printed sheet due to the pull of the ink is prevented.

It is one of the objects of my invention to provide a gripper plate and depressible squeezer spring with means for holding the same in adjusted relation along the length of the gripping finger in such fashion that the relative position of the parts may be readily and conveniently changed when desired.

A further object relates to details of the means for holding the parts in adjusted re lation whereby cost of manufacture and assembly is very materially reduced.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less broad than those stated above, together with the advantages inherent, will be in part obvious and in part specifically referred to in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts, and applications of principles constituting the invention; and the scope of protection contemplated will appear from the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a perspective plan view of paper gripper attachments embodying my inven Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 443,494..

tion, showing the relation to the gripping fingers and to the platen and the paper; Fig. 2 is a detail enlargement of the gripper attachment, showing its adjustable relation to the grlpping finger; Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4: is an edge view of the gripper attachment removed from the finger; and Fig. 5 is a per speotlve view of the gripper attachment, mlnus the grlpper plate 15 and depressible spring 16-17.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, there is shown at 5 the platen of apress, which will of course be provided with the usual gages for holding the paper 6 in deslred position. The numeral 7 indicates a gripping finger which is adapted to carry the attachment hereinafter described. Pref}. erably each gripping finger 7, is provided along one edge with a plurality of notches 8, and slidable along the finger is the paperengaging device proper. This comprises a flat piece of metal as shown in Fig. 3, bent so as to have a bottom 9, an upstanding wall 10 and a top part 11 extending from the wall 10 and parallel to the bottom wall 9. From the other end of the bottom wall 9 extend two holding portions 12 and also an extension 14 in the plane of the bottom 9, to which extension 14 is preferably riveted a gripper plate 15 for engagement with the paper 6, and also a strip of metal 16 having its ends 17 extending upwardly and toward each other so as to constitute a squeezer spring; though of course the extension 14 itself may constitute a paper gripper and plate 15 and spring 16-17 may be dis pensed with. The bottom plate 9, walls 10 and 11 and holding portions 12 constitute a slidable sleeve which is intended to surround the gripper finger, as clearly shown in Fig. 2; but in practice the distance between the vertical walls 10 and the vertical portions of the holding members 12 is considerably greater than the width of the gripper finger. This is to allow for variations, and compensation for such difference, and for the variations in width of the gripper along its length, is had through the bowed spring 18, which is mounted in the sleeve so asto be more or less compressed between the gripper finger and the sleeve. In the drawings the spring 18 has a part 19 curved on a smaller radius than the radius of the spring as a whole, which curved part 19 extends through a median cut-out part in the vertical wall 10. The portions of the plates 9 and 11 adjacent this cutout 20 are depressed toward each other as indicated at 21 so that they bear against the concave inner surface of the spring and the spring is thus held in the Fig. 2 relation to the sleeve and cannot be readily removed therefrom, though it may pivot to a limited extent. The spring 18 has one end 22 flattened into a sort of slider or shoe which will pass readily over the notches 8, while the other end of the spring is bent to form a detent 24, which will snap into one or other of the notches 8 as the device is slid along the gripper finger. If both ends of the spring were provided with this detent, it would be necessary to use both hands in releasing the device, in case both ends should be engaged in notches; whereas the present device is readily operated by simply lifting the detent end and then sliding the device along to desired position. The notches required in the edge of the gripper finger need to be only very small, and indeed they can be made at any desired place as occasion arises, with a small file or the like.

It will be evident that there is thus provided a gripping device which is readily adjustable along the length of a gripper finger, whose adjusted positions are securely maintained except as they are to be deliberately changed; in which the spring compensator which is necessary because of the tapering shape of the gripper finger, functions also as the means for keeping the device in adjusted position, and in which the connection of the compensating and holding spring with the sliding part is simple, positive and cheap to manufacture.

Inasmuch as many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of my in vention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative andnot in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim:

1. A device of the kind described comprising a sleeve member having a paper? engaging portion, a member embraced by the sleeve and along which the sleeve is slidable, and a bowed spring secured to the sleeve and having one end formed as a de tent and the other end formed as a shoe.

2. A device of the kind described comprising a sleeve member having a paper-engaging portion, said sleeve consisting of a base and upwardly extending walls and end portions on said walls extending toward each other, an extension on said base, and a bowed spring pivotally secured within the sleeve, substantially. as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A device of the kind described comprising a sleeve member having a paperengaging portion, the wall of the sleeve being provided with a cut-out part, a bowed spring having a median portion engaged in the cut-out portion of the sleeve, and the wall of the sleeve adjacent the cut-out portion being provided with integral means for holding the median portion of the spring engaged in the cut-out portion of the sleeve,

substantially as described.

a. A device of the kind described comprising a sleeve member including a base plate having one end turned over .and having from'the other end an extensionin the plane of the base, and turned-over portions at each side of the extension directed toward the end of the first-named turned-over part, the base and turnedover portions con the sleeve and along which the sleeve is slida'ble, and meansfor yieldingly holding the sleeve in adjusted position on the member.

5. A device of the kind described comprisin a sleeve member having a paper engaging portion, said paper engaging portion provloed with a squeezer spring member, and a bowed spring secured to the sleeve and having one end formed as a detent and the other end formed as a shoe.

6. A device of the kind described comprising a sleeve member having a paper gripping plate secured thereto, a metal strip stituting a sleeve, a member embraced by secured to said plate having its ends eX- tending upwardly and toward each other thereby constituting a sque'ezer spring and bowed spring secured to the sleeve and having one end formed as a detent and the other end formed as a shoe.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ED'WARD' L MEGILL. 

